When comedian Mike Dorval received a cancer diagnosis, his fellow comedians decided to help him replace his lost performing income.
By Nick A. Zaino III Globe correspondent, Updated April 10, 2025
Mike Dorval can do just about anything onstage. He was a regular actor in “Sheer Madness,” the long-running improvisational mystery at the Charles Playhouse. As “Mike the Bubble Man,” he has entertained families with a mix of comedy, science, and bubble tricks. And he’s also been a lively and engaging presence on Boston’s stand-up scene for 25 years. Entertaining audiences is a job Dorval loves and counts on for his income. But right now, he can’t do it.
In September 2024, Dorval found out he had a form of lymphoma in his sinuses. The news from his oncologist was bittersweet. She told him, “It’s a good prognosis, and we’re gonna have you up and on your feet sometime next year,” he said, speaking by Zoom. “Which was good and bad. It was, you know, ‘Great! We’re gonna cure it!’ And then ’How long is it going to take?‘”
Months later, Dorval, 50, is optimistic. Chemo and radiation have destroyed the tumor. He suffered a setback when a procedure to harvest his stem cells for an auto stem cell transplant, which helps bones heal after chemo, didn’t yield enough for an effective treatment. He was hoping to be working his way back to the stage over the summer, but that has been pushed back to the fall at the earliest.